This study examined levels of wellness among 403 undergraduate students on academic probation. Total wellness, 5 secondary categories of wellness, and 17 third-level categories of wellness are reported within this article. In addition, this study offers norm-group comparisons and demographic influences of wellness in regard to undergraduate…

The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) promotes research on the civic and political engagements of Americans between the ages of 15 and 25. The following topics are covered in this issue of "Around the CIRCLE": (1) Common Social Studies Teaching Practices and their Civic Outcomes; (2) CIRCLE Jointly Hosts…

Looking back over the 14-year history of Oakton Community College (OCC) with its cluster system of organization, this paper examines the distinctions between discipline-oriented organization and the cluster system, and discusses the current rationale for OCC's maintenance of this approach. First introductory material describes how the president…

The unit of faculty-student grouping at Oakton Community College (Illinois) is the learning cluster. Four learning clusters, led by appointed deans, serve 4700 students. The basis for assignment of faculty and students to a cluster is not homogeneity, but variety and balance. (Author/NHM)

Discusses the innovations taking place at Johnston College of the University of the Redlands, an experimental cluster college, including: governance, living-learning alternatives, and student life. (PG)

This study compares students in a living-learning program with those in a conventional program. Attitudes and perceptions of the learning environment were the variables measured during the students' fourth semester in college. The learning environment variables were: democratic governance, undergraduate learning, freedom, and concern for…

This report from the President of Oakton Community College (OCC) to the Board of Trustees presents and supports a recommendation to retain the college's interdisciplinary cluster system. Following introductory comments, the report discusses reasons for establishing a cluster college at the present, highlighting the benefits of this systems for…

Thomas Jefferson College, the first cluster college of Michigan's Grand Valley State Colleges, has become stable and successful in just 4 years. (Author/HS)

Institutions of higher education presently and in the future will be confronted with the problem of offering diversified programs to the students they are supposed to serve. All institutions are becoming more and more alike due to a one-sided emphasis on increased enrollment rather than accommodating that priority to increased program quality. A…

The "cluster college arrangement" is discussed in this model for reorganization of the College of DuPage. The basic idea is to provide, within the framework of the parent institution, several educational communities small enough to enable students and faculty members to work closely toward reasonable educational goals. The following…

Oakton Community College (Illinois) opened in 1970 with the proviso to have five or six groupings of professionals directly concerned with the learning process. To meet stated goals, two basic departures from the usual academic practice were (1) to hire a minimum of line administrators, and (2) to abandon subject area departments and organization.…

This is a selective review of the literature in regard to economic, social-psychological and organizational aspects of institutional size. The introduction contains some tables noting the increased size of individual institutions and the magnitude of changes that have taken place in the number of students enrolled in the nation's institutions of…

Discusses three developments in higher education that offer possibilities for cooperative efforts that could lead to significant improvements in undergraduate programs: cluster colleges, field study programs, and new techniques for teaching and learning. (Author/PG)

This paper provides a brief overview of Oakton Community College's (OCC) cluster organization, which is believed to foster offering of true interdisciplinary education. OCC is organized into four learning clusters, each of 30 full-time and 40 part-time faculty, 1,500 students, and headed by a dean. Each cluster is semi-autonomous; authority is…